An artist with many gifts

Intermountain Catholic

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Jeanne Allgood will have an exhibit in which she will expose her colorful and unique art.

SALT LAKE CITY — Jeanne Allgood is a Catholic with many gifts.

Among them is her artistic side. Allgood is an oil painter — she was the featured artist in the Salt Lake City Gallery Stroll in 2009 — and she is putting together an exhibition titled "A tale of two mains" to be displayed on March 20.

As a parishioner of Saint Joseph the Worker, Allgood was the choir director until six months ago; now she focuses her artistic side in painting and poetry. For example, this year she donated a painting to the parish’s fifth annual auction; the painting was of the parish’s crucifix being removed from the old church building prior to its destruction.

Anne Kurek, secretary at Saint Joseph the Worker, said the painting "really captures the spirit of our old church; it’s a very striking picture."

Allgood started studying painting five years ago. "I took classes for about a year and develop my own style," said Allgood, referring to the fact that much of what she learned was about landscape painting, but now she does what she calls ‘people sceneries,’ in which people walk a street at night or during the day or sit in a coffee shop or play in a fountain — everyday life and people’s interaction intrigues her.

Her inspiration comes from daily life. "I think each person in a scene has their own story of how that day went or what brought them to that point in life.... It fascinates me," said Allgood.

The technique that Allgood uses is mainly oil because of the freedom the medium allows. "It’s a very forgiving medium in which you have the opportunity to go back and make some changes," she said.

Most of her paintings are based on photographs that she snaps in the streets. For the "A tale of two mains" show, the art is based on Salt Lake City’s Main Street and the main street in Park City. She finds the comparisons between the cities interesting because each one has their own character, she said.

"She chooses interesting subject matters and she’s got a very good color palette," said Kurek about Allgood’s work.

‘A tale of two mains’ will exhibit 30 art pieces, almost all of them brand new because during a Christmas art sale she sold almost all her work. Os Corvos, the acoustic guitar duet of Jay Kirsch and Jerry Parsons, will perform during the show.